If You Want To Go Up In Flames, Here's My Number
by IWriteNaked
Summary: Clary has always wanted to kiss Jace...especially after she killed his cat. One shot.


**Thanks to my beta, rippingbutterflywings, for...being my beta. And for listening to me/offering advice when I was freaking out. I can't thank you enough.**

"This is the last time," Jace said with absolute certainty as he handed Clary her packed bag. "If you leave, it's over for good."

Clary pushed her mess of crimson hair away from her emerald eyes. "It didn't work. I know it hurts, but I'm sure this time. I'm not coming back."

He glared at her with the same golden eyes she'd spent the last three years staring into from across the table. This was it. "I've given up on you."

"I don't understand why this has to happen," she whispered. "But there's too much history, and we've hurt each other too much. I have to go."

"I was going to marry you," he told her.

"I wish it worked out that way." She looked up at him, wishing she had the guts to lean in and kiss him. She needed to know if there was anything there, but she held her ground just like she always had.

"It still could," he pleaded.

Clary shook her head. "I don't know." Her eyes drifted to his lips. His hands went into her hair, his breath fanning out across her freckled face, and her lips parted in anticipation.

"Fuck!" Magnus Bane exclaimed from across the stage. "We're out of time for the day! Alec is waiting for me. We'll have to practice the kiss scene tomorrow. Great work today, you two."

Clary groaned internally. She'd been waiting for three years to kiss Jace Wayland, only to have it ripped away from her at the very last second. The only reason she accepted the role in Magnus' play was because of that scene.

Jace rolled his eyes. "Thank God. I was about to vomit."

Clary glared at him. "Let someone else take the role if kissing me is such a burden."

"Stop trying to scare away my talent!" Magnus objected. "He's perfect for the role, and so are you. You made a commitment."

Jace picked up his water bottle from the place he'd left it on the floor. "Can't we skip the kiss scene? They're breaking up, for crying out loud. Why would they kiss?"

"They're still in love," she told him. "They get back together later because of the spark they felt during the kiss. Did you even read the script, Wayland?"

"Yeah, I did!" Jace said with a sinister glint in his eyes. "I read it while I cried over my cat's grave."

Clary threw her hands in the air. "That was two years ago! And it was an accident. I'm sorry, okay?"

"Tell that to my dead cat."

Magnus stepped between them. "What is this about?"

"Clary ran over my cat," Jace said accusingly.

"It ran in front of my car!"

Magnus turned on his heel to glare at Clary. "You're a murderer! No wonder he hates you!"

"I said I was sorry!" Clary yelled over the laughter coming from the rest of the cast. "There's nothing more I can do. I'll get you a new cat, okay?"

Jace shook his head. "You can't replace Church. He was my best friend."

"I don't have time for this. Sort it out on your own," Magnus said before leaving the stage to find his boyfriend, Alec.

Clary stood there, eyes downcast. "I'm sorry, Jace."

"Sorry doesn't bring Church back." This was what he always said when she tried to apologize. "My heart hurts, Fray."

"I don't know how to fix that."

"You could start by staying away from me," Jace suggested hopefully.

"We're neighbors," she muttered. "Your sister is dating my best friend, and you're friends with my brother. You come over to my house all the time. You're the one who isn't staying away from me."

"You joined the play, and you've never acted before in your life," he pointed out.

"Magnus asked me to, and he's my friend. I'm doing him a favor."

Jace's golden eyes narrowed. "You just really want to kiss me. That's the only reason you accepted the part."

Clary stared up at him. He couldn't possibly know that. She decided to deflect with denial. "You're the last person in the world I would ever want to kiss."

"Whatever you say, Clary," Jace said before heading out. Clary watched him leave, wishing she had the guts to just say that she liked him.

(((Page break)))

"Start from the top, you two," Magnus said in his official director voice. "The scene we left off on yesterday, when she's about to leave."

Clary stumbled through her lines, knowing what was coming at the end of this scene. Today was the day she would finally get her kiss from Jace Wayland.

She watched his mouth while he recited his lines to her. She spoke on cue, and when it was time, she stood on her tip toes, hands resting against his sculpted chest. She felt his heart beating beneath her fingertips, and his lips were parted slightly.

Their lips touched tentatively, and it was Jace who pulled her in closer, chasing her movements with waves of his own. They kissed until she remembered to breathe again. It was everything she thought it would be. It was good and bad, and everything in between. Clary never knew enough to care about the difference.

As Jace pulled away, flames burned harmoniously inside of her pitter-pattering heart, and she knew that from that moment on things would probably stay the same, but there was some kind of spark between them, so nothing was really the same at all. It was all up to them whether they chose to act on it, or ignore it entirely.

This kiss was only a tiny needle in a haystack, but at least with this step, they could both say that the needle did, indeed, exist.

"Wow..." Jace gasped. He leaned close to her ear and whispered "That was almost enough to make up for you killing my cat."

Clary couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips. "Almost? What more do you want me to do?"

Jace straightened, looked her straight in the eye, and said: "Questions like that will get you in trouble, Clary Fray."


End file.
